A 3D printer for dieters?

Wed, 2011-02-09 12:31

We've all heard of 3D printers that build plastic-like prototypes and even devices that 3D-print food. But here is a nifty twist: a food printer intended to let people eat what are basically customized diets, while helping to eliminate food waste. Pablos Holman, an inventor at Intellectual Ventures, noted how much food Americans waste, so he built a device that gives users exactly the amount of food they want, on-demand. Similar to many kinds of industrial and craft 3D printers, the machine is basically an inkjet printer. But instead of printing ink droplets, it deposits droplets of food. It is said that users can even control the device down to an individual pixel. For example, you could cook a pixel of food as fast or as slowly as you want, and to any temperature. Another possibility is to incorporate pharmaceuticals, and the machine would send a report back to your doctor that you are getting the right daily dosage. There are even apps that help wean users off bad stuff like sodium or cholesterol. It's easy to imagine how such a machine could help people lose weight by giving them an easy way to monitor their food intake.